Improved railway-chair and fish-joint



D'. drinnen, or CHICAGO,ILLINOIS..v

Letter: Patent No. 99,345, dated February 1, 1870; antedctod Janna/ry 24, 1870.

IHPROVED RAILWAY-(35m FISH-JOINT.

. the sername tema :e ni um l:..mm Pneus' and man; pm of um "me,

' To'all when: it may concern.-

Be` it known that I, D. O..PmBcE, ofOhicago, in

l the county of Cook, and vState of Illinois, have inventedcertain' new and useful Improvements in BailwayfOhairs and Fish-Joints; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exactY description thereoiQ-'eference being had to the accompany- `ing-drawings, making'part of this specification, and to the Aietters of reference markedth'ereon, like letters' indicating like parts wherever they occur.-

' To enable others skilled in the art to construct and Vuse. my invention, 'I will proceed to describe it. My present invention relates to railwaychairs and fish-joints, for securing the rails in position; and

The invention consists in certain'novel features in; the construction thereof, the saine being an'improvementgip', the chair and joint recently iiwentedhyy uw, and on which I have'alreadyapplied for a pattlre novelty being'hereinafter morei'ully speci# e Figure 1 is a top rplan view, and Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section', .taken on Figure is a top plan view, and

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the invention in a modified form, all the'iiguresv representing the invention as applied in practical use.

. The improvementin this case consists of two distnct features, the `first, and principal one, being the extension of `the lips of the chair, up alongside of the rail, so as to brace it on each Iside, and form a bear-,-

' ing for the head o f the rail; and the second, in constructing th'e vb ody oi the chair of wrought-iron, and

so arranging the chock or jaw in relation to the body,

as' represented in figs. 1 and 2.

The general principle or'plan ;ofrna'king the rail self-tightening in the chair,is the: Vsame as described.

in my application heretofore referred to, and need not', therefore, be herein speciiically described.

In constructing -my improved chair and ish-joint, I make the body or base plate, A, of the chair, of a rectangular form, preferably .of wrought-iron, with a rectangular hole or opening in its centre, of proper size to receive. the chocks B and the clasping-jaws C,

'Ithen for'm ,two ebooks, B, of cast-iron, having their -inner surfaces formed on a curve, as in fig. 2, and with a notch," e, to engage or lock on the inner edge of the A andthe chocks B may all be Aforged together, in a' single solid piece of wrought-iron.

In makingthe jaws that clasp and hold the rail, I

form them with curved surfaces, to fit against the chocks, and Awith grooves on their inner faces,.to receive and hold the ange of the railfthesame as in my former' application; but instead of having tbe jawsterminate just over or above the ilange of the rail, as in that case, I now extend these jaws-inward and up ward, alongside of kthehod y of the rail, and have-their' upper edges terminate just under the head of the-rail,

as shown clearly at b, in iig. 2. By this method of constructing the jaws, Iflock and brace the rail in a most substantial and e'ective manner; f

It isobvious that the more' the rail is .crowded down, the tighter the lips b of the jaws C- are pressed against -the sides of the rally-and that the weight, instead of being thrown entirely upon the ilanges of the rail, where the latter rest in the grooves in the jaws, is supported-in part upon the top edges of the lips b, thus preventing the possibility ofthe rails settling below 'a certain point, even ,if the flanges of the rail should give way or become bent. f f .In-constructing a iish-joint'on'tlris plan, the jaws C are simply extended to the proper lengthen each end, 'as shown by the dotted lines in figs. 1. f

In figs. 3 and 4, I have represented the fish-joint as made with the bearings at each end, instead of at the centre, the object being to provide for joining the rails D midway betrveerrtwo ties, instead of ona tie,

(as is the usual course.

The base plate A can be readily punched out by machinery, and the chocks B being cast of the required form and size, require no finishing or fitting by machinery, and there being no holes to punch or drill,- and no bolts to use, the device forms at once an exceedingly stro'ng, cheap, and efficient apparatus for 2. The lips b, extended laterally, alongside of the rails, to -forni a fish-joint, substantiallyas described.

' 3. The base plate A, with the chocks B fitted' there` in, and adapted to the jaws C, substantially as d escribed, to form a bearing for the jaws 0,l as se't forth.`

Witnesses:

J. McKnxNnY,.

plate A,'as` there shown; or if preferred, the plate Inn.. T. Donau."

D. PIERCE. 

